Therapists earn a living counseling miserable expats

The Telegraph has a great article about how some therapists are making a living counseling miserable expats. Specifically, Dhyan Summers discovered the need for expat therapists when she became an expat in New Delhi:

“New expats struggle with issues like the fact that you can’t just get in your car and go somewhere, you have to have a driver. Plus the whole issue of having servants all the time. The air quality is really bad. [Also] for single women it can be really scary at night.”

Ultimately, she started a New Delhi-based practice called Expat Counselling and Coaching Services and now splits her working time between in-person counseling with clients (mostly from Europe and the US in her office) and counseling online clients in locations as diverse as Afghanistan, Venezuela, Indonesia, Greece, Russia and Bangladesh via Skype video sessions.

According to Summers, relationship troubles are the main source of business with female expats seeking someone to talk to outnumber men while children can complicate any family or relationship problems further because:

“There’s not a lot for them to do and anyone will sell them drugs at any time of the day or night.”

Summers commented that some people only need one or two psychotherapy sessions before their issue is resolved, but most of her clients take four to six months with the majority of clients managing to work out their problems and stay in India – something that’s good news for employers.

The article also noted that expat counselors can also be found in Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore and Sweden.

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